Sunday, January 23, 2011

Living Job, Goodbye Elijah James

Our family members would say the same thing.... the difference in a year. JT's cousin, Richie, must feel like he is living the life of Job. At twenty-six years old with a wife and young son, his career is growing. This summer he learned he was going to have another baby. After the loss of a pregnancy last year...this was fabulous news. Then there was September (see my sept posts). Richie's mom (JT's aunt) died suddenly at 56 years old. Now without his mom, the hope of the baby, now known to be boy, was sustaining their immediate family. Elijah James Folden was born seven days ago. Today, he lays in a hospital bed at Kosair Children's Hospital (where I spend all of my work days) status post craniotomy for a brain bleed. Now, they are removing life support from his tiny life that never had a chance to grow. Where does this leave Richie, his wife Brooke, his father Rick? I am praying it leaves them at the feet of Jesus looking up. I am can not fathom their pain, their loss. It is beyond my scope.

I see death almost daily. I come and go through the doors our Intensive Care Unit....and yet it never has been so palpable until now....now with my family. Please pray for this family, my family through marriage who I love as my own. Pray to God, thanking Him for the our blessing that stared at us one year ago and pray for the deep grief of they are feeling.

So now we say goodbye to Elijah James Folden (little brother to Grant, son to Brooke and Richie, Grandson of Rick) who is now being rocked by his Mamaw Margie at the feet of Jesus. (below is a picture of Elijah and Grant on their first day together)

"I believe that this could very well be looked back on as the sin of our generation. I look at my parents and ask, where were they during the civil rights movement? I look at my grandparents and ask, what were they doing when the holocaust in Europe was occurring with regard to the Jews, and why didn't they speak up? And when we think of our great, great, great-grandparents, we think how could they have sat by and allowed slavery to exist? And I believe that our children and their children, 40 or 50 yearsfrom now, are going to ask me, what did you do while 40 million children became orphans in Africa?"